From the Liveblog of
Monday, June 24, 2024
Eisenkot says PM’s statement that Israel would agree to partial hostage deal is contrary to war cabinet decision
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Former war cabinet observer MK Gadi Eisenkot slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he said last night that he would be open to a partial hostage deal, which would bring about the release of “some” hostages, and accuses him of going against decisions made by the war cabinet.
“As someone who sat in the cabinet, there were only two options: A full deal all at once, or a comprehensive deal in three stages. The cabinet voted unanimously on this, and therefore Netanyahu’s statement about a ‘partial deal’ is contrary to the war cabinet’s decisions,” Eisenkot, who left the government two weeks ago, tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Netanyahu’s statement caused the families of hostages “emotional turmoil,” Eisenkot tells the committee, and caused “critical damage to Israel’s national resilience.”
“This requires immediate clarification from the prime minister,” he says.
Netanyahu on Sunday, in his first interview with a Hebrew-language outlet since Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, told Channel 14 that Israel was prepared to pause fighting in Gaza for a partial deal in exchange for the return of a number of hostages held by Hamas, but insisted the war will not end until the terror group is destroyed.
Backing up Eisenkot, committee chairman Yuli Edelstein of Likud says that he too is familiar with the decisions Eisenkot says were made by the war cabinet.
